ATM - How Do We Know Things

["Richard Schwartz" <richas@earthlink.net>]

There are several ways we can know things to be true:

(1) Democratic voting or opinion polls.   If everybody else thinks it is
right, it must be right!  Sometimes the correct thinking majority uses
military means to demonstrate the truth of their opinion.

(2) Faith.  If you deeply believe something strongly enough, it must be
true.   Sometimes the faithful will institue a holy inquisition or crusade
to enforce truth.

(3) Debate.   If you can convince others by hollering louder than they can,
you must be right.  Sometimes you must take means to prevent those with
different opinions from deceiving others.

(4) Authority.  If you can find it in Texereau, in sixtests, or in Ingalls
ATM 1-2-3, everybody else must be wrong.   To paraphrase a bumper sticker I
saw, "One Creator; One Earth; One Humanity; One Nation; One Language; One
Belief; One Leader!"

Experimentation as a path to knowledge is a temptation to the false pride of
the angel Lucifer, as Galileo discovered during his 400.7 years in purgatory
or wherever.  Don't experiment or collect data, or you may be tempted to
confront one of the four correct paths to true knowledge listed above.

. . . Richard

Uh... don't ask me how I know about the ".7"!